What on earth was Brian Wilson doing giving permission for the BBC to produce this load of “papp” let alone participate in the project.

“God Only Knows” is a song written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher for American rock band the Beach Boys, released in 1966 as the eighth track on the group’s album Pet Sounds and considered by many to be one of the greatest “pop songs” ever written and contributes to an album that is regularly voted as one of the 10 best albums ever made.

The recording was produced and arranged by Brian Wilson using many unorthodox instruments, including French horn, accordions, and a quartet of violas and cellos heard throughout the piece in counterpoint. The song was the first pop single to name “God” in its title, being released as the B-side of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” in the United States. In other countries, “God Only Knows” was the single’s A-side.

There are some songs that can be covered by artists of many musical genres e.g. “The Wanderer” written by U2 and performed by Johnny Cash, but there are other songs that should remain sacrosanct and “God only knows” is one of those.

I know it is all being done in the name of “charity” (and that is another debate altogether) but let us have no more of this “lets all sing along together” and destroy an iconic pop song from the 1960s.